


Sleeping Dragon

by Elvaethor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Draco Malfoy, Auror Harry Potter, Auror Partners, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-06-04 06:16:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6644659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvaethor/pseuds/Elvaethor





	1. Breakfast With A Drunk Visitor

Harry looked down at the man laid on his sofa; the creased suit fit just right on his skinny frame, the white, rolled up sleeves gave way to pale skin as smooth as the silk robes draped over the arm of the sofa, the only mark; a faded skull with a snake for a tongue on his left forearm. The white blonde hair spread messily over the robes seemed to glow brighter than he’d ever seen it. Draco’s face looked so peaceful while he was sleeping, however his eyes were moving quickly beneath his eyelids and he had deep dark bags under them.

When Harry had first walked in he thought he’d seen Draco’s eyes opening, but after standing there for a minute realised that several insults would have been thrown at him for deigning to enter the room while he was supposed to be sleeping. Harry had sat on the armchair facing the sofa and had tried to read the Daily Prophet, however his eyes kept drifting over the top of the paper to stare at Draco’s splayed body. He’d had a brief moment of insanity where he had wondered, and inexplicably _hoped_ , that Draco was dreaming of him, but he’d quickly shook the thought from his head and carried on reading about the latest Death Eater found. Draco was probably dreaming of his latest conquest after a night out, he told himself. She’d probably been quite tall, Draco always went for the tall ones, and definitely a brunette with green eyes. He’d always wondered what had attracted Draco to women with green eyes, after everything he’d been through, Harry would have thought that Draco would try to stay away from anything green.

Harry had found Draco on the doorstep of 12 Grimmauld Place, singing loudly about thestrals and unicorns dancing and giants killing wizards. When he’d asked Draco what he was doing he gave a half-arsed, long-winded attempt at explaining the mechanics of his vocal cords and the complexities of singing. After getting him to shut up, Harry explained his question and manged to work out from the mumbling sound that came from Draco, that he was too drunk to get home and so had tried coming to Harry’s as he wasn’t too far away from the pub he’d been drinking in. Harry had helped Draco into the sitting room and on to the sofa and, after he’d fallen asleep, rushed back to struggle with the curtains on Mrs Black’s portrait. At least she didn’t scream as much as she used to, now that the house was no longer the headquarters of the organisation fighting Voldemort, but she still viewed Harry as the biggest blood-traitor out there and reminded him as much as she could. He’d called an expert to try and have her removed but he’d had little success so far.

As Harry turned the page of his newspaper, only half reading it, Draco began to stir. Harry’s eyes shot straight to the flash of skin at his navel and then took great interest in the article about how St Mungo’s were re-evaluating their expenses.

“You could have woke me, _Potter._ ” Draco’s face screwed up as if someone had presented him with a dead rat.

“Thought you could use your beauty sleep, _Malfoy._ ” Harry shot him a reproachful look and then turned back to his paper to read about a group of pixies causing trouble in Falmouth. “Hangover potion’s on the table and there’s tea in the pot in the kitchen. Help yourself to breakfast”

Draco narrowed his eyes while fighting a smile. “How’d I know you haven’t poisoned it?”

“Ah, yes, out of all the ways I want to kill you, poisoning you is by far my favourite. Really Draco, I’m more likely to kill you during a duel.  So, no, I haven’t poisoned the tea, though we never cleaned the house out properly, so if you find anything in a cupboard that looks old, feel free to touch it, I’d like to know exactly what we missed.”

“Oh, ha ha, _Potter_. Very funny.” He swung his legs round so he was sat facing Harry. After gulping down the potion, he turned a sickly shade of green before his neck and face flushed. “Why’d they have to make it so horrible?” he muttered.

“S’pose it punishes you for drinking,” Harry mumbled into his hand as he covered his smile.

Draco stopped in the doorway and started looking around for something. Harry raised his eyebrow as they made eye contact. Draco raised one of his hands to about waist height. “Shouldn’t there be three little people running around the house? There has been every other time I’ve been here. And for that matter, where is the big female one?”

Harry’s face dropped from an amused smirk to completely blank at the mention of Ginny and the kids. “Right, of course, it’s been awhile,” he dropped his head into his hands, letting the paper rest on his knees, “Me and Ginny, we sorta split up. And we share time with the kids, I’m picking them up later from the Burrow and then I’ll take them to ‘Dromeda’s tomorrow. I don’t really like them staying here when it’s just me. And at least at ‘Dromeda’s they get to spend time with Teddy.”

“‘Dromeda and Teddy?”

“Erm, yeah. Your aunt Andromeda and her grandson, my godson, your cousin, Edward.”

“Nymphadora and Lupin had a child? Is he… Erm… Is he like his father?”

“Yes they had a child and no, he’s more like his mother. He’s a metamorphmagus not a werewolf.”

“Why hasn’t Aunt Andromeda said anything in her letters?” Draco seemed to be thinking rather than wanting an answer but Harry thought that Narcissa and ‘Dromeda hadn’t spoken for ages.

“Letters?”

“What, oh, yeah. Mother thought that the end of the war was a good time to try and mend some bridges with the family. She felt like they’d spent too long without talking.”

They fell into a confused, contemplative silence, Harry was thinking about this connection they’d had without really noticing it. “You can come and visit them if you want.” The words were out of his mouth before he’d thought about them, what if ‘Dromeda didn’t want Draco to visit?

“Erm… I won’t. Though thank you for the offer. Now, you said something about breakfast.”

They ate with small smiles on their faces and made idle chit-chat. It all felt so surreal to Harry. They’d spent six years hating each other, then spent a year separated by a war and then after just four months without seeing each other, Malfoy had dropped back into his life, this time at work, and Harry had got to know _Draco_ and now here they sat, eating breakfast like old friends.

After finishing breakfast, Draco promptly left via Floo to Malfoy Manor and Harry was left feeling strangely content, like he always used to when Draco arrived on his doorstep drunk.


	2. Three Floos, Three Kids

Harry felt his arm hit something and pulled it closer to his body, still trying to hold down his lunch as he felt the familiar spinning motion of traveling by Floo. He jerked to a stop and only just managed to throw his arm out to grab the side of the fireplace. He tripped into the familar kitchen, pots and pans washing themselves in the sink, a rolling pin rolling out some pastry but no sign of the usually bubbly Mrs Weasley. Harry sighed and strolled out of the kitchen and into the sutting room. Mrs Weasley was sat in an armchair and gave a start as Harry cleared his throat to draw her attention.

"Oh, hello Harry. Ginny's just making sure the children have everything packed before they leave." She smiled weakly at him; she'd taken the divorce harder than anyone at first but Ginny had managed to convince her that they were both happier this way. Mrs Weasley put her knitting down and looked exaspertingly at Harry, "Oh sit down, Harry." She glanced from him to the door once he'd perched himself on the edge of the sofa. "I know I've been hard on you and Ginny, it's just that it's not easy to see two of your children like this."

Harry gave her a puzzeled look at this. "Well. It's just that I thought you were happy together."

"It's not that Mrs Weasley we were at first, it's just, you said 'two of your children'?"

"Harry, you're still like a son to me, always have and always will be, no matter what happens between you and Ginny." As she said this, Hary felt a weight lift from his shoulders. He'd been worrying about this for three years, casually dodging Weasley family dinners.

He dropped his head into his hand as his face flushed with embarrassment, "I thought," he coughed, "I thought you'd hate me."

"Hate you, Harry I could never hate you! Don't be so stupid. Now, Bill and Fleur are coming next week before they leave for their anniversary and we're having dinner here, and I thought..."

"I'd love to," Harry beamed at her.

"Oh excellent, it's been too long since all of my children care for tea." Her face dropped after she'd spoken. They quickly fell into an awkward scilence. Mrs Weasley had, understandingly, taken Fred's death worse than anyone. "Ginny should be up in Albus's room."

Harry quickly eft the room with a small smile thrown back at Mrs Weasley. He took the rickety steps two at a time until he reached Percy's od room. Inside he found Ginny and Albus packing his case. "Hello."

“Oh, Harry. I thought I heard someone downstairs, we’re just waiting for Lily and Albus to finish packing and then they’ll be ready.”

“Okay. I sent Dromeda a message telling her we won’t be long.”

“Is she alright looking after these three at her age?”

“Ginny, we’ve been through this, she’s got Teddy there to help her, and he loves these three.” She gave him a look that told him she was unconvinced.

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Look!” Lily was holding a flower up to him and he watched as the petals slowly waved at him.

Ginny’s voice cut through his thoughts about his mother, “Lily, have you packed?” She sounded impatient as if Lily had been showing her this all morning.

“Yes! Case ‘sin my ‘oom.” She held her hand closer to Harry’s face.

“Wow! Where did you learn that?”

Lily looked hard at the flower and muttered, “I just ought it’d be cool, ‘nd it happened.” Lily returned her hand to her own face and stood watching the petals.

“Why don’t you go and get James, Lily?” She hurried away clutching the flower tight in her hand.

“How long has she been able to do that?” Harry turned back to Ginny to see her shrug her shoulders.

“A few days. She’s been driving me mad with it.”

“My mum used to be able to do that,” Harry saw Ginny tilt her head inquisitively, “I saw her through Snape’s memories doing it.”

“Ah, so I can blame you for it then!”

“That’s not fair!” Harry stopped from arguing as Ginny started laughing at him.

“Go on, get Lily’s case. Dromeda will be wondering where you’ve got to.”

As Harry left the room he grabbed the doorframe and span round to face Ginny again, “Is it okay if I drop them off a bit later next week?”

“Oh, damn.” Ginny ran her fingers through her hair, “Is it okay if you have them for two weeks? It’s just, I’ve got to go out of country for a match.”

“That’s fine. Teddy will be delighted.”

As he turned to go up to Lily’s room he heard Ginny shout a “Thanks Harry,” after him.

When he got to Lily’s room, he grabbed her case and met James coming down the stairs. “Got everything? Where’s your sister gone?”

“She went downstairs to say goodbye to Grandma. I think I’ve got everything.”

“Okay, off we go!” They descended the stairs and entered the kitchen. “You go first James and take Albus with you, I’ll follow with Lily.” He watched as James and Albus span out of sight and then entered the fire place thinking of when they could all just apparate somewhere.

As he dropped the Floo powder, hot ash burst into his mouth. He fought the urge to cough and splutter and clearly stated their destination. As the flames grew around him, he felt the spinning sensation start again.

He fell out the fireplace and saw a flash of turquoise as he landed on top of someone. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Teddy.” But his apology fell on deaf ears as Teddy was laughing too hard to hear him.

“Will you never learn to use that thing properly? Most eight year olds can use the Floo without injuring themselves and you just fall out, _every time_!”

“Oh shut up.” He picked himself up off the floor and helped Teddy to stand up. After checking that Lily was alright he looked round the room, Albus was sat on the sofa next to his and James’ cases but Dromeda and James were nowhere to be seen. “Where’s James?”

“In the kitchen with Gran. He seems to have your skill with the Floo. It’s nothing serious just a graze on his knee.”

Harry pulled Lily’s case from the fireplace and took all the cases into the hall before visiting the kitchen.

“How’s he doing Dromeda?”

“He’s alright, aren’t you?” James nodded his head.

“Erm… Is it okay if the kids stay for two weeks?”

“Of course it is Harry.” Dromeda turned to look at him. He still couldn’t get over how much she looked like Bellatrix. “Now,” she said as she turned back to fixing James’ jeans, “How’s Draco?”


	3. Explanations and Pastries

The question caught Harry off guard. “Draco?” His mind was reeling. Why was Dromeda asking him about Draco? Had he sent her a letter asking about Teddy, or had he sent her a letter asking if he could drop in for a visit.

Dromeda span around on her with an expression that clearly showed that something had happened that she now blamed Harry for. “Yes, Draco.” Her reply sounded like she was trying to mimic Harry’s own. “My nephew, your work colleague and _Teddy’s cousin_.”

“Erm, he’s fine, I think.”

“Really? So you didn’t have breakfast with him this morning then, right? And you definitely didn’t tell him about Teddy, or suggest that he could visit without asking his mother, or myself for that matter?” Harry could see what was coming, why had he asked Draco if he wanted to come and visit Teddy? “Only I got an owl earlier from my darling sister, and by her tone it may as well have been a howler. She is demanding why she didn’t know that her niece had had a child. And in the letter she heavily implied where the information had come from, ‘ _Draco has informed me (through a common acquaintance) that I have a relation that I know nothing about… Perhaps if he spent more time at work with Draco than swanning off to have breakfast with him…’_ ” By the time she had finished her rant her eyebrows had raised so far into her hair that Harry expected them to be above her head by now. The silence that followed gave him the distinct impression that she was waiting for an explanation or an apology.

“It may have been mentioned that Draco had a cousin living with you.” He felt so stupid yet so angry at the same time. Teddy wasn’t some little secret for them to keep to themselves but he still knew that the relationship between the two sisters was strained at best.

“Oh, you’re hopeless. Look, I didn’t mean to rant at you, it’s just that things were starting to get better and now they feel awkward again. So, your punishment for making that happen,” he didn’t like where this was going, “I want you to come to tea on Friday, of course the kids will still be here won’t they, so just pop in around five and you can help make it.” The shock running through Harry made it almost impossible for him to speak, he’d been expecting her to send him on some horrible errand.

Harry left the kitchen after Dromeda and James had returned to the sitting room and helped Teddy to carry the cases up to the children’s rooms and as they set them down, he flicked his wand and sent all of their possessions flying around each room until he put his wand away and they all floated down into their proper places.

After they went back downstairs, they joined everyone in the sitting room and sat down. They stayed there all evening entertaining themselves; Albus and James spent their time trying to control the books they had in front of them so that the pages would turn, but with all their effort they could only turn the pages with their hands; Lily lay on the floor watching Teddy change his hair colour in an effort to make her laugh and Harry and Dromeda sat on the sofa facing each other catching up on the events in their lives over the past week.

When Lily couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore Teddy picked her up and took her upstairs to bed while Dromeda tried to convince Albus to leave the book and go to bed while Harry led James up to his room and once he was in bed, he went across the hall to say goodnight to Lily and then Albus once he finally got into bed without his book. Harry said goodnight to Dromeda and went to find Teddy. After they had a quick conversation Harry told him he’d be back in the morning and to save him a cup of tea for when he arrived.

 

****************************************************************

 

By the time Harry rolled out of bed on Monday morning, he was looking forward to go back to work. He quickly got dressed and threw his Auror robes over the top. The short trip to the near-by bakery gave Harry time to think about what mood Malfoy would be in when he got to the office. He checked his watch as if that held the answers. He was running late, he better get two raspberry pastry braids today along with his usual two chocolate pinwheels.

He bought his pastries and crossed the road and entered the deserted alleyway there. With a twisting sensation everything went black and he arrived at the ministry. With a short trip he opened the door to his shared office.

“You’re late Potter,” the familiar voice greeted Harry as he entered.

“Hello Malfoy, here’s breakfast.” He dropped the pastry braids on Malfoy’s desk, crossed the room and sat down at his own desk. He proceeded to eat the first of his pinwheels while looking through the stack of files below his desk.

“Ah, two. We must have been expecting trouble this morning Potter.” Harry looked up in time to see Malfoy’s smirk before it disappeared as he bit into the pastry. His face screwed up and an appreciative groan shook Harry out of his envious stare.

Malfoy always seemed to find the greatest pleasure in his food, taking his time to savour each bite. “You have to tell me where you get these from one day.” He glanced at Harry before taking another bite.

After Malfoy’s third groan, Harry shifted in his seat, “You’d have no need of me then, would you.”

“No, I wouldn’t have to look at your ugly face every day for the rest of my working life. And with any luck, the Weasel would be transferred to filing and both of you will have left my life for good.”

“Oh, wouldn’t that just be perfect. At least then you’d stand a small chance of becoming Head Auror in a few years.” Harry’s grin grew as Malfoy’s expression soured.

“Back to work, Potter, we’ve got a visit at one. Maybe if you work hard enough you’ll have enough time to reply to your fan mail.” With an exasperated sigh, Harry turned back to the folder in front of him and worked on finishing his report for their last case.

 

****************************************************************

 

Harry kept looking at the clock every ten minutes. After half past twelve he started tapping his fingers rhythmically on the desk; twenty to one he kept picking up his quill and then dropping it back down on his desk; ten to one he kept running his hands through his hair.

“Do you ever stop?!” Malfoy had stopped writing and thrown his quill down dramatically over his parchment. “Just sit still for once in your life!”

“Erm, Malfoy…”

“No, Potter. I don’t want to hear about how you didn’t become an Auror to sit behind a desk doing paperwork, or how you’ve never sat still for a minute in your life, or that you saved the world so you deserve to be able to do whatever the fuck you want! I don’t care how you do it, just sit still, or I’ll have to put a body bind curse on you.”

Harry felt gobsmacked. When he found his voice again he said to Malfoy’s expectant look, “Actually, I was going to say that we need to go to the visit. It’s one o’clock.” He gave Malfoy a wide grin.

“Oh,” a look of comprehension shot over Malfoy’s face, quickly followed by what Harry could only be described as a blush. “Well… Erm…We better go then.”

“And where are we going again?”

“Another safe house. Remember what I said to you?” Malfoy turned his head slightly as he stood up and walked towards the door of the office.

“You’re late?” Harry gave a sheepish smile, which Malfoy returned with a dead look.

“Don’t touch anything, Potter. I don’t want to go to Azkaban anytime soon. Now take my arm, we’ll side along apparate, it’ll be easier.”


	4. The Drunk Visitor Returns

It was nearly half past five when they got back to the office. Harry slumped into his chair as Malfoy dropped on to his own. Harry dropped his head on to his desk as he felt his muscles ache and spasm in protest.

“Well, that could have gone better.” Malfoy sounded pissed. Why had he entered a room by himself? He just grunted in response. “We’ll just have to put it down to a gas leak or something like that.” Visions of the bright yellow flames that had engulfed the safe house flooded Harry’s mind. And then Draco’s hand and shield charm that had saved them both from his stupidity. “Why do you never listen? God I wish Alex hadn’t gone back to Hogwarts.”

He looked over at Malfoy at the mention of his previous partner. “Just because you wouldn’t have to do any work if you were partnered with him.” Malfoy shot him a disgusted look but Harry just ignored it, “Anyway, teaching was always more his thing than fighting.”

Malfoy failed to respond and instead turned his attention to packing his things away into his briefcase. Harry just turned back to his own desk and flicked his wand at the piles of paperwork. They all started flying in to his draws and under his desk. By the time they were all off his desk and he’d turned around to face him, Malfoy had gone and the office door had swung closed. He sighed and stood up to leave but as he passed Malfoy’s desk he saw a note placed perfectly in the centre. He picked it up read the five words written in the familiar scrawl: _‘Going out. See you tonight.’_ He smiled to himself as he dropped the parchment back down onto the desk.

He rushed home and quickly made himself something to eat. After finishing his tea he told himself to slow down. He wandered upstairs and ran a bath.

 

 **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

It was about nine o’clock when he heard the knocking on his door. He turned the television off and went to answer the never ceasing knocks. As he opened the door, he wasn’t surprised to see Draco trying to carry on his knocking and instead falling through the doorway and on to the floor. He looked up at Harry in surprise. “Ah, Harry. You’re always *hic* always nice to me. You *hic* won’t leave me, will *hic* you?”

Harry was trying to suppress a laugh. “Who left you?”

“Pansssyyyyy! She just *hic* left! And there’s me *hic* with _her_ date *hic* so I ran.” He was waving his arms about dramatically and as he finished his tale he burst out laughing. When he looked at Harry again he held his finger to his mouth, “Shhhhh!” and descended into laughter again.

“Right, up you get. Come on.” Harry heaved Draco to his feet as he carried on laughing. “Come on, if you get upstairs you can have a bed. Otherwise, you’ll be a bitch in the morning.”

They were halfway up the stairs when Draco spoke again. “Can I have *hic* _your_ bed?” The question startled Harry and when he turned to look at Draco he saw that he was looking back at him with a childish innocence.

“Erm… Why?” Draco looked at Harry like it was perfectly obvious and when Harry didn’t reply he huffed and rolled his eyes.

“You really are *hic* stupid Potter.” Harry carried on dragging Draco up the stairs and led him into his own bedroom. Draco looked around. “This your bed?” When Harry nodded Draco started to walk towards the bed while muttering something about ‘more red.’

As Draco started to pull his shirt off and over his head, Harry rushed forward to stop him from falling over. For the briefest second, Harry could have sworn that Draco held his breath as he grabbed hold of his bare torso. He removed his hands from Draco’s warm skin and moved them up to help untangle his arms and head from the offending shirt. “Why didn’t you undo the buttons?” Harry couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his face as Draco struggled like a child with his shirt.

The shirt finally slipped free from his head and they threw it on the floor. “I migh’ be bit drunk.” Draco’s voice sounded so much like Albus’ when he had been chastised that Harry froze with shock at how attractive it sounded coming from Draco’s lips. He shook the thought from his head and redirected his attention to undressing Draco. Once his trousers were safely off, Harry gave him a push to the chest to get him to sit down on the bed as he removed his socks.

He let Draco get under the covers and then turned to leave. “Where are you going?” Draco’s voice sounded so broken.

“Erm...”

“You said you wouldn’t leave.” Harry turned to face Draco and saw that his face mirrored his voice; broken.

“Okay.” Harry quickly stripped off his clothes and, red faced, climbed into his bed next to Draco. He placed his glasses on the bedside table, reached for his wand and extinguished the lights. Seconds later he felt a pair of arms circle his bare waist and Draco’s head rest on his chest.

“Erm… Draco? W-what are you doing?”

“Sleeping.” Harry could hear the smile in his voice and chose to drop his protests, just relax and sleep, as he put his arm under Draco’s neck and moved himself into a more comfortable position. He felt his eyes slowly drift close as Draco’s warmth lulled him into a peaceful sleep.


	5. A New Job

Harry woke to clashing sounds reverberating through the house. He looked around the room and saw no trace that Draco had ever been there. Before the strange feeling of panic could take a hold of him, the blond man appeared at the bedroom door, clutching his head and with his eyes screwed closed.

“Where?” He coughed away the roughness of his voice. “Where do you keep your hangover potions?”

Harry smirked at Draco’s pained face. “Somebody’s feeling the effects of last night.” He slipped out of the covers and padded his way to the en-suite. “Here you go. Hopefully it’ll make that face a bit prettier as well.” He passed Draco the bottle before turning and heading for the shower.

As the water reached the perfect temperature, he dropped his pants and heard a startled gasp behind him. “Potter! What are you doing?”

“Having a shower. I suggest you go down to the spare bedroom and do the same, we have work in an hour.” After a few moments he heard Draco’s footsteps leave the room. He grinned to himself, maybe it wasn’t only drunk Draco that wanted to get into his bed.

 

****************************************************************

 

Harry threw on his Auror robes as the green flames died down. He walked out the door and made the short walk to the bakery. He bought three braids and two pinwheels; everyone deserved a treat now and then. He crossed the road and apparated to the Ministry.

“Hm, Potter. Do I smell pastry?” Dra-, Malfoy grinned in delight as Harry laid the braids down on his desk. “Three! Are you trying to make me fat?”

Harry felt a burst of laughter shoot past his lips. “I don’t think anything can make you fat. You’re as thin as a bowtruckle.”

“Hm… Your pastry may do it. I’ll have to tell Mother to put me on a diet.” Malfoy carried on filling out the paperwork in front of him, holding one of the braids in his spare hand as he worked.

“How is Narcissa? I heard she’s started hosting dinner parties?” Harry took out the papers from his drawer, and carried on writing up the report from the day before.

“You’ve heard right. She’s trying to do something to keep herself busy. Apart from that she just relaxes around the Manor.”

Their conversation drifted into a content silence as they both finished their work and pastries. It was around two o’clock that an interdepartmental note flew through their door, to land on Harry’s desk.

“Kingsley wants to see us in his office.” Harry stood and stretched his back as Malfoy walked around his desk to the door.

Harry quickly followed him, closing the door and fast walking to catch up with Malfoy. When they reached Kingsley’s office Harry knocked on the door.

A deep, “Come in,” came from the other side of the door. To Harry’s surprise they weren’t the only ones Kingsley had summoned.

“Minister. How can we help you?” Hermione looked impatient, like she had been asking the question for some time now.

Kingsley gave no indication he had heard her. “Well, now that we are all here: it has come to my attention that there’s a band of Death Eaters preparing an attack on the Ministry. I want you four to investigate.”

“But how? Where do we even start?” Ron was looking around at them all.

“That’s for you to decide. I’ve pulled you off of all other tasks you were working on. This is your main priority. You have access to the entire Ministry, but I’d like to keep this as quiet as possible.”

“But Minister,” Malfoy had stepped forwards, “We’re four people. Four people who’ve only very recently started working at the Ministry. How are we supposed to stop an attack?”

“You’re four people who all survived a war you were actively fighting in: one who defeated Voldemort; one who managed to work out where the horcruxes were; one who managed to protect those he loved without being there; and one who lived with Voldemort and kept himself and his family safe. You’re capable enough to take out a few Death Eaters.”

“But Kingsley, everyone knows us. If we go rooting around the Ministry…”

The Minister held Hermione’s glare as he held up a hand to silence her. “Everything is already sorted, Miss Granger. I’ve asked for you all to be supplied with enough polyjuice potion for when you need to investigate around the Ministry yourselves. However, I would prefer for most of this investigation to be conducted in private.”

Malfoy’s voice was clipped and guarded as he responded with a simple, “Yes Sir.”

“You’ve all got new offices, two of them; one for you two.” He pointed at Ron and Hermione. “And one for you two.” He nodded at Malfoy and Harry.


End file.
